About us

What is the Engine Shed?

The Engine Shed is a special interest group for children and young people with autism who like trains.

They can play, talk and enjoy their interest in a welcoming, safe and relaxing environment. It provides a safe and supportive environment for autistic children to enjoy their interest in trains, and to develop their skills in coordination, teamwork and communication.

The Engine Shed puts the children in charge of their trains. They design, build, organise and share the railways – from Brio wooden railways to working Hornby model railway layouts.

At our latest South London venue in Streatham, over 30 autistic children and young people attend and remain focused for a full 2-hour session, with minimal supervision. We also provide a ‘Quiet Zone’, where railway books, magazines and puzzles keep them engaged, but help to reduce sensory overload and over-excitement.

We’ll be running another Engine Shed open day for autistic children at a real railway station! We’ll be at Herne Hill station next Thursday 30 May from 10am-12noon, in the Station Hall (at 1st floor level). All the usual trains

We’re taking some of our trains to Me too & Co’s activity session in Twickenham. We’ll be providing trains to play with both on the floor and on table tops, so that the activity is accessible to wheelchair users. Tickets

The Engine Shed is a special interest group for children and young people with autism who like trains. They can play, talk and enjoy their interest in a welcoming, safe and relaxing environment – and their parents can talk in

The Engine Shed has been invited to present at the Autism Show in London! Exciting, or what?! We’ll be talking all about the importance of special interests for autistic people and how these can be used for education, training and